It may seem like a cliché to make announcements on Thanksgiving Day about what you are thankful for.  Yes, every year we use this time as an opportunity to tell the world what we are thankful for.  Now, I know that Thanksgiving Day, historically, does not bring about a good feeling for all people in our Nation.  My gratitude and thanksgiving are not without consideration of those who may see this day as a reminder of what was taken from their ancestors.  Nonetheless, we are to still always be thankful in all that we are and all that we have.

I have not always had the best experiences in life.  I have gone through ups and I have gone through downs.  I have seen blessings and I have seen curses, or what felt like curses.  That is why I am grateful today because I know that things can always be worse than they are or they could not be as good as they are, however, you chose to label it.  I take being grateful to heart.  I am grateful for the simplest things and I ensure that I try to reflect my gratefulness in all of my ways.  I often say, “ I reveal my age with pride and no matter how old I get I will never lie or feel the need to hide my age because I consider it a blessing to get older and I am grateful that God graced me with age.”  It could be different.  I could be aging under the ground.  I stated that to point out that in all of our ways we should be grateful.  I have plenty to be grateful for but here are three things that I feel grateful to have.

I am Grateful to Have a Relationship with God.

Yes, I am grateful for my relationship with Jesus Christ.  I started out with Him just like many people do.  I started out in the cliché, on the surface, shallow and vain type of experience.  I did not understand truly what a true relationship with Jesus was until I started to experience some serious rough patches in life.  In my living, I have learned to experience Him on a much deeper level.  I am not talking about the deep level that some people consider such as prophecy, revelatory dreams and visions, speaking in tongues, etc.  I am not referring to that type of deep, even though I have my experience with all of those as well.  I had to learn that so much of what we experience in church is so trivial and so temporary and lends nothing to the true power and love that is Jesus Christ.  I am grateful that God allowed me to get to know Him in this way.  It has allowed me to know how to love people without fault.  It has taught me how not to use scriptures and labels to determine if a person is worthy of my Godly affection.   Ultimately that has taught me how to forgive, just as Jesus views us and forgives us.  To me, this is the ultimate relationship with Christ.  If I never speak another tongue, or give another prophecy, or intercede for another soul, I am content knowing that the Love of Jesus is with me.  I am grateful for His love.  I am Grateful for Christ.

I am Grateful for Vision

Unless you are a visionary, you may not fully appreciate what I have to say here about this part.  Everything I have ever accomplished or encountered, God showed it to me first in a vision.  I believe where there is no vision then there is no sense of purpose.   God has already shown me what I am to do next with life, where I shall live, the type of path I should take.  Though it may appear on the outside, I have things figured out, you have no idea just how much I depend on and pull on God’s gift of being a visionary.  I am thoroughly grateful to be able to see and not just see for me but for others.  Having vision helps me to remain calm when it seems like all hell is breaking loose in my life.  It was vision that kept me grounded when I was making $12 an hour just less than three years ago.  I felt and saw better and I am grateful that better finally came and did more than double that.  Let your take away from that be to always be willing to see yourself doing better.  Vision is important.  When you can visualize your desires, you can focus squarely on those desires a little better.

I am Grateful for Love

We hear I love you here and there but it is one thing to hear I love you and to see I love you.  I am grateful for the action of love that I receive.  I have been betrayed a whole lot and I have had people who say they love me with their lips do and say things against me that do not reflect that love.  However, I do have people, friends, family, and a wonderful partner who shows me love with actions.  Their actions speak volumes to me and I can never question truly if their love is genuine.  You see, Jesus showed us He loves us through action.  As I have aged into the second round of 30 years of living, this is one of the things I have learned to value the most.  I have learned to value those who value me.  I am grateful for those who love me and I am grateful for the ability to give love out.  I pay attention very well.  I know that my life is not something that a lot of people, particularly church people, like or approve.  Knowing this, I pay close attention to how people handle me and treat me.  I look to see if the same Jesus that causes me to love will cause them to love.  I am grateful that God has blessed me by touching the hearts of many of my acquaintances and having them show me love with their actions and not lip service and bad actions afterward.  I am grateful for love.

Always be Thankful

There are many more things that I am truly grateful for.  I would be writing forever if I mentioned them all.  What I do notice is that the common thread in all that I am thankful for has something to do with some type of impression from Jesus.  I think it is impossible to be grateful for anything without having an understanding that He is connected to that thing you are grateful for.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says to give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  There you have it.  It is God’s will through Christ for us to be grateful and it is through Christ that we are giving the charge and the ability to be grateful.  I pray for you today, that God will enlarge you and your capacity to be grateful for all the good and the bad that comes with your life.